WEBVTT 00:00:05.940 --> 00:00:09.930 Paisley: Hi everybody, Paisley imperfect here again today. And 00:00:09.930 --> 00:00:12.210 we're gonna jump right in today, because I think today might go a 00:00:12.210 --> 00:00:17.760 little long. We are. I know that I've mentioned that before. But 00:00:18.090 --> 00:00:21.750 I love to talk about the plan of salvation. I love it. Some call 00:00:21.750 --> 00:00:25.950 it the plan of happiness. And I'm hoping that that is the way 00:00:25.950 --> 00:00:30.390 that we will feel about it when we're when I'm done with this 00:00:30.390 --> 00:00:37.290 episode. Because I want to focus on the happiness that comes from 00:00:37.590 --> 00:00:40.980 knowing at least part of the plan, because I just want to 00:00:40.980 --> 00:00:45.210 focus on one part of it today, we could talk for hours and 00:00:45.210 --> 00:00:49.740 hours and hours about the plan. And someday when I get a website 00:00:49.740 --> 00:00:53.760 set up, have a whole page all just about what we know about 00:00:53.760 --> 00:00:58.980 the plan. But for today, I just I'm hoping that you'll bear with 00:00:58.980 --> 00:01:01.080 me as I share some of the things that I've learned over the 00:01:01.080 --> 00:01:01.500 years. 00:01:02.580 --> 00:01:06.930 And I want to focus on the part of the plan today that comes 00:01:06.930 --> 00:01:11.520 between death and resurrection. So what happens to us after we 00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:16.140 die, before we are resurrected, I don't know if you remember, 00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:20.580 but a couple of episodes ago, I was talking about having the 00:01:20.580 --> 00:01:25.950 constant companionship with the Holy Ghost. And I read a talk by 00:01:26.220 --> 00:01:34.110 President iring called the Holy Ghost as your companion. And I 00:01:34.110 --> 00:01:37.650 shared this quote, he said we need the constant help from the 00:01:37.650 --> 00:01:41.250 companionship of the Holy Ghost. for yet another reason, the 00:01:41.250 --> 00:01:45.030 death of a loved one may come unexpectedly, it is the witness 00:01:45.030 --> 00:01:48.090 from the Holy Ghost of the reality of a loving Heavenly 00:01:48.090 --> 00:01:52.470 Father, and a resurrected Savior that gives us hope and comfort 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:56.610 at the loss of a loved one. That testimony must be fresh when 00:01:56.610 --> 00:01:57.450 death occurs. 00:01:58.590 --> 00:02:03.930 Ever since I read that, for some reason, in that talk, it just 00:02:03.930 --> 00:02:07.770 felt like it kind of stuck out like almost like it didn't fit. 00:02:08.160 --> 00:02:10.770 That's how it felt when I first read it, and so ever since I 00:02:10.770 --> 00:02:14.220 shared it ever since I read it and then I shared it. It just 00:02:14.220 --> 00:02:18.120 kind of stuck in my head and stuck in my heart. And then a 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:20.970 couple of days after that I was reading the Book of Mormon with 00:02:20.970 --> 00:02:24.930 my oldest daughter. It's part of our bedtime routine. We read a 00:02:24.930 --> 00:02:28.380 little bit of the Book of Mormon and then we read a chapter or 00:02:28.380 --> 00:02:32.400 two from a novel together. And so I was reading the Book of 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:37.740 Mormon with my oldest daughter, and it was Saturday night. And 00:02:38.100 --> 00:02:40.170 we've been trying to keep up with the Come follow me 00:02:40.170 --> 00:02:45.060 curriculum, but we got a little bit ahead. And so spoiler alert, 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:48.030 if you're keeping up with the Come follow me curriculum, I'm 00:02:48.030 --> 00:02:50.460 about to do I'm about to give you a little bit of a spoiler, I 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:55.020 think it comes next week. It's in chapter 40. When we get to 00:02:55.020 --> 00:02:59.670 chapter 40, ALMA, the younger is talking to his son, Corianton. 00:03:00.030 --> 00:03:03.570 And he's, he tells him a little bit about the spirit world. 00:03:04.110 --> 00:03:09.300 So the spirit world is where we go, where our soul goes, where 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:13.110 our spirit goes, after we die, and before resurrected, that 00:03:13.110 --> 00:03:17.790 space in between those two events. And so we were reading 00:03:17.790 --> 00:03:21.150 in Alma, chapter 40. And I'm just gonna read verses 11 and 00:03:21.150 --> 00:03:25.620 12, and 14. And so this is again, this is Alma talking to 00:03:25.620 --> 00:03:28.530 his son, Corianton and Corianton was not his righteous son. 00:03:28.980 --> 00:03:35.280 Corianton wasn't that great of a guy. And so Alma, I was just 00:03:35.310 --> 00:03:38.640 kind of telling him like, Hey, I prayed about this. Here's what I 00:03:38.640 --> 00:03:39.000 know. 00:03:39.390 --> 00:03:42.480 He said, Now concerning the state of the soul, between death 00:03:42.480 --> 00:03:46.200 and the resurrection, behold, it has been made known unto me by 00:03:46.200 --> 00:03:49.800 an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:53.880 departed from this mortal body. Yay, the spirits of all men. And 00:03:53.880 --> 00:03:58.230 women, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God 00:03:58.230 --> 00:04:01.740 who gave them life. And then it shall come to pass that the 00:04:01.740 --> 00:04:05.220 spirits of those who are righteous are received into a 00:04:05.220 --> 00:04:08.400 state of happiness, which is called Paradise, a state of 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:11.790 rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their 00:04:11.790 --> 00:04:16.260 troubles and from all care and sorrow. And now verse 14, now 00:04:16.260 --> 00:04:19.650 this is the state of the souls of the wicked, yay, in darkness 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:24.480 and a state of awful, fearful looking, awful, fearful looking 00:04:24.510 --> 00:04:28.770 for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them. Thus, 00:04:28.770 --> 00:04:32.430 they remain in this state, as well as the righteous and 00:04:32.430 --> 00:04:35.340 Paradise until the time of their resurrection. 00:04:36.390 --> 00:04:41.520 So, according to Alma, when we die, our soul and our body are 00:04:41.520 --> 00:04:45.720 separated. And our soul goes to depending if we were righteous, 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:52.020 or just we go to Paradise, place of rest and rest from all of our 00:04:52.020 --> 00:04:55.440 troubles and cares and sorrow, place of peace a state of rest. 00:04:56.760 --> 00:05:02.760 If we are wicked, Some darkness, awful fearful looking for the 00:05:02.760 --> 00:05:04.650 fiery indignation of God. 00:05:07.030 --> 00:05:09.490 So my daughter, and I read that together. And that kind of stuck 00:05:09.490 --> 00:05:13.870 with me not so much with her. She seven, not so much with her. 00:05:14.020 --> 00:05:16.960 She had a couple of questions. It was an interesting 00:05:16.960 --> 00:05:22.480 conversation. But then also, I mentioned that we read a novel 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:27.010 together. And we were just finishing up her first ever 00:05:27.010 --> 00:05:31.900 Nancy Drew book, which childhood favorite of mine. They're a 00:05:31.900 --> 00:05:38.380 little dated. So it was kind of an interesting thing. But we had 00:05:38.380 --> 00:05:41.350 just finished up a Nancy Drew book, and I asked her, which 00:05:41.350 --> 00:05:46.390 book do you want to pick, we have a pile of books, probably a 00:05:46.390 --> 00:05:49.480 good two feet deep of books that we have found that we really 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:53.410 want to read together. And so she grabbed one of the books off 00:05:53.410 --> 00:05:56.950 the stack, and it's called Missing may, I'd never heard of 00:05:56.950 --> 00:06:00.460 it before. I'm honestly not even sure where it came from, or how 00:06:00.460 --> 00:06:05.530 we ended up with it. But it's, it was also about death. It's 00:06:05.530 --> 00:06:10.690 about a little girl. She's six, she was six years old when her 00:06:11.080 --> 00:06:14.980 her parents died. And she kind of got passed around from family 00:06:14.980 --> 00:06:19.540 to family in Ohio. And then her Aunt May and Uncle Ob came and 00:06:19.540 --> 00:06:24.730 picked her up and essentially adopted her. And then took her 00:06:24.730 --> 00:06:30.700 to northern West Virginia, where she lived with them until she 00:06:30.700 --> 00:06:35.590 was 12. And then her aunt Mae died. And the book is about, 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:38.170 we're only about halfway through. But the book is about 00:06:38.650 --> 00:06:44.680 how this girl and her uncle, kind of find each other again, 00:06:46.180 --> 00:06:50.920 find each other and find peace find themselves find themselves 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:55.330 again, because her aunt Mae was such a huge part of their lives. 00:06:56.500 --> 00:07:01.360 And so I had all of these three things hit me kind of within 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:04.570 just a couple of days. And I said something to my husband 00:07:04.570 --> 00:07:08.710 that night, Saturday night, and I was like, I feel like, I feel 00:07:08.710 --> 00:07:11.260 like death is following me. I don't know, I don't know what is 00:07:11.260 --> 00:07:17.350 going on. But it just for some reason, in all of these things 00:07:17.350 --> 00:07:23.560 that I'm reading, death is just kind of standing out to me. I 00:07:23.560 --> 00:07:29.770 didn't feel like I don't know, I don't really I didn't really 00:07:29.770 --> 00:07:33.520 understand what I was feeling. I'm still not sure what it 00:07:33.520 --> 00:07:38.320 means. I'm hoping that just it being in the back of my mind. 00:07:38.740 --> 00:07:42.220 I'm I'm hoping that maybe I just needed to do an episode about 00:07:42.220 --> 00:07:42.880 it. I don't know. 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:46.440 The next morning at church, Sunday morning at church, we 00:07:46.440 --> 00:07:50.940 found out that a guy in our ward was in a pretty bad accident on 00:07:50.940 --> 00:07:54.960 Saturday and actually passed away. We weren't especially 00:07:54.960 --> 00:07:59.490 close to him. I saw him every Tuesday when we would show up at 00:07:59.490 --> 00:08:03.450 the church right around the same time. Because he his calling was 00:08:03.450 --> 00:08:08.250 to work with a little activity dudes. We call them the boys 00:08:08.250 --> 00:08:14.130 between ages eight and 11. Their twice monthly activities on 00:08:14.130 --> 00:08:17.550 Tuesday nights. And so I would see him sometimes at the church 00:08:17.550 --> 00:08:21.690 on Tuesdays. He didn't come to church on Sundays, he would come 00:08:21.690 --> 00:08:23.820 every once in a while if there was like somebody coming home 00:08:23.820 --> 00:08:26.940 from a mission or somebody leaving to go on a mission. He 00:08:26.940 --> 00:08:31.950 served with my husband in scouts for a while. He just everybody 00:08:31.950 --> 00:08:36.330 knew him and everybody loved him because he was so friendly. He 00:08:36.330 --> 00:08:42.000 was so nice. He would just was like this. Like an all star he 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:47.670 just you couldn't help but like him. He was a chef. He was a 00:08:47.670 --> 00:08:50.790 spear fisherman. He was a diver. He did all of these really 00:08:50.790 --> 00:08:54.120 awesome things like he was the kind of person that you just you 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:57.180 wanted to associate with because he did so many cool things. You 00:08:57.180 --> 00:08:59.280 just wanted to hear about him. You wanted to hear all the 00:08:59.280 --> 00:08:59.790 stories. 00:09:00.920 --> 00:09:06.890 Now, I'm not. I am not claiming that the spirit was trying to 00:09:06.890 --> 00:09:10.370 tell me that he or anybody else was going to die. Like I said 00:09:10.370 --> 00:09:14.000 before, I don't know why these things have been standing out to 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:19.700 me. I have no idea. I don't know his by his wife very well at 00:09:19.700 --> 00:09:23.600 all. I don't think I've seen her in a while. I'm sure I haven't 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:27.110 seen her in a while. I don't know his kids very well. He has 00:09:27.110 --> 00:09:30.410 a son and a daughter and his daughter. She was older than the 00:09:30.410 --> 00:09:34.820 group that I was teaching in young women's and so I just I 00:09:34.820 --> 00:09:41.540 never really got to know her very well. But anyway, so this 00:09:41.570 --> 00:09:45.290 this is just it's been on my mind. And so I wanted to talk 00:09:45.290 --> 00:09:48.710 about it. And I wanted to like what else do we know about the 00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:56.090 spirit world? So my friend, where is he? I mean, I think 00:09:56.090 --> 00:09:58.280 he's in a state of rest. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.880 I hope he's, I hope he's resting somewhere. First, we all could 00:10:00.880 --> 00:10:05.350 use a little rest, right? But in the temple prep, so I taught, I 00:10:05.350 --> 00:10:08.410 did a stint as a temple prep teacher too. And in the temple 00:10:08.410 --> 00:10:12.250 prep teachers manual, by the way, you all have access to that 00:10:12.250 --> 00:10:17.500 online in case you didn't know. If you go to libraries, and then 00:10:17.500 --> 00:10:24.430 you go to what was that, again, you go to libraries, and then 00:10:24.430 --> 00:10:30.010 you go to gospel library. And you go to, I think it's Yeah, 00:10:30.040 --> 00:10:33.610 books and lessons. And then there's temple prep. So in the 00:10:33.610 --> 00:10:37.180 temple prep book, in the very first lesson of the temple prep 00:10:37.180 --> 00:10:44.920 book, there is a there's a diagram. It's a, it's a, there's 00:10:44.920 --> 00:10:47.140 a diagram about the plan of salvation, but it's not the one 00:10:47.140 --> 00:10:49.480 that we're used to. It's not the one that shows like, the 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:53.140 premortal life, it doesn't have pictures. It has little boxes 00:10:53.140 --> 00:10:57.610 that you can write scriptures in. And then the answer key is 00:10:57.610 --> 00:10:59.320 at the bottom, in case you needed it. 00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:03.830 But in so in the temple prep book about death and the 00:11:03.830 --> 00:11:06.950 resurrection, it says, we're about the spirit world. Rather, 00:11:06.950 --> 00:11:10.580 it says when we die, our spirits enter the spirit world and our 00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:14.690 bodies remain on earth. This period of separation continues 00:11:14.690 --> 00:11:17.540 until the time of our resurrection, the spirits of the 00:11:17.540 --> 00:11:20.300 righteous are received into a state of peace and happiness, 00:11:20.570 --> 00:11:23.720 which is called Paradise. The spirits of the wicked are placed 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:27.170 in a state of darkness, which sometimes is referred to as a 00:11:27.170 --> 00:11:33.500 prison. We got that from Alma right, then. So I don't know if 00:11:33.500 --> 00:11:38.090 you guys are familiar with tags, you can tag articles and things, 00:11:38.450 --> 00:11:42.290 when you're studying them either on your phone, on your tablet, 00:11:42.530 --> 00:11:47.000 online, you can create tags, and I think I've mentioned this 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:49.790 before, but I have a whole bunch of tags. And because I like the 00:11:49.790 --> 00:11:53.420 plan of salvation, so much I tag things plan of salvation. And 00:11:53.420 --> 00:11:56.180 then I try and like sub tag them, like which part of the 00:11:56.210 --> 00:11:59.600 plan of salvation is this from. And I only had two for the 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:03.860 spirit world, I had one from the temple prep book that I just 00:12:03.860 --> 00:12:06.710 shared. And then the other one that I had was for this talk 00:12:06.710 --> 00:12:10.850 from President oaks in October of 2019, called trust in the 00:12:10.850 --> 00:12:11.270 Lord. 00:12:12.260 --> 00:12:15.950 And he talks, he lays out everything we know about the 00:12:15.950 --> 00:12:20.030 spirit world, everything we know, you, it's for sure, we're 00:12:20.030 --> 00:12:26.600 thrilled, I'll make sure it's linked in the show notes. So you 00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:29.540 can get to it pretty quickly if you want to. Otherwise, you can 00:12:29.540 --> 00:12:32.810 just go to the church's website and type in trust in the Lord 00:12:32.840 --> 00:12:38.090 and October 2019. President oaks. So I'm only going to share 00:12:38.090 --> 00:12:43.100 a few points. But he says he points out what we've what we've 00:12:43.100 --> 00:12:45.890 already talked about what we read about in Alma, that there's 00:12:45.890 --> 00:12:48.440 a division between the righteous and the wicked. And then he 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:51.680 tells us that the scriptures quote, also describe how some 00:12:51.680 --> 00:12:54.350 faithful spirits teach the gospel to those who have been 00:12:54.350 --> 00:12:58.070 wicked or rebellious. Most important, modern Revelation 00:12:58.070 --> 00:13:00.980 reveals that the work of salvation goes forward in the 00:13:00.980 --> 00:13:04.880 spirit world. And although we are urged not to procrastinate 00:13:04.910 --> 00:13:08.360 or repentance during mortality, we are taught that some 00:13:08.390 --> 00:13:12.650 repentance is possible there. Some repentance is possible 00:13:12.650 --> 00:13:12.920 there. 00:13:13.280 --> 00:13:16.220 And to be completely honest, I almost kept that out of this 00:13:16.220 --> 00:13:21.500 because we have to be very, very careful about procrastinating or 00:13:21.500 --> 00:13:26.540 repentance. And I don't want to I didn't want to include it with 00:13:26.540 --> 00:13:29.450 the fear that people will be like, Oh, I have time. Well, 00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:36.710 sure you have time. But some repentance is possible there. So 00:13:36.740 --> 00:13:38.840 just be careful. 00:13:39.650 --> 00:13:42.800 And then he talks about how all in the spirit world are under 00:13:42.800 --> 00:13:48.620 some form of bondage. And I remember I remember when he gave 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:53.660 this talk, I was just like, glued to the TV. And then 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:56.750 reading this again, when I got to that part, I was like, Wait a 00:13:56.750 --> 00:14:00.050 second, all in the spirit world are under some form of bondage. 00:14:00.050 --> 00:14:01.910 What about the people in paradise? What are the What 00:14:01.910 --> 00:14:04.520 about the people who are resting? Right? Are they really 00:14:04.520 --> 00:14:05.930 in some form of bondage? 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:09.050 And he said, the spirit world bondage that applies to 00:14:09.050 --> 00:14:13.400 righteous converted Souls is their need to await and perhaps 00:14:13.430 --> 00:14:16.970 even be allowed to prompt the performance of their proxy 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:20.690 ordinances on Earth, so they can be baptized and enjoy the 00:14:20.690 --> 00:14:22.010 blessings of the Holy Ghost. 00:14:23.240 --> 00:14:25.490 So two things that I want to point out in that statement 00:14:25.490 --> 00:14:29.990 number one, people who have not been baptized, confirmed, 00:14:30.140 --> 00:14:33.320 received their endowment been sealed to their spouse or sealed 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:37.970 to their parents can still also can still also can also be 00:14:38.060 --> 00:14:44.150 considered righteous. Believe it or not, just because someone 00:14:44.150 --> 00:14:47.420 like Mother Teresa wasn't baptized into the church of 00:14:47.420 --> 00:14:50.240 Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints while she was alive, does 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:54.800 not make her unrighteous. righteous people are still 00:14:54.830 --> 00:15:00.710 waiting for their ordinances to be done. And that is That that 00:15:00.710 --> 00:15:02.960 is their form of bondage. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:08.090 Okay. Now, the second thing that I want to point out in that 00:15:08.090 --> 00:15:14.150 statement is that this is why temple work is so important. We 00:15:14.150 --> 00:15:19.190 do temple work to release them from those bonds. We do temple 00:15:19.190 --> 00:15:22.190 work so that they can be released from those bonds and go 00:15:22.190 --> 00:15:25.730 help teach. And he mentioned that in his talk to, you should 00:15:25.730 --> 00:15:26.540 for sure go read it. 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:30.920 Now the bondage for the wicked, he says, The wicked also suffer 00:15:30.920 --> 00:15:35.000 and additional bondage. Because of unrepented sins, they are in 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.530 what the Apostle Paul referred to as spirit prison. These 00:15:39.530 --> 00:15:44.330 spirits are described as bound, or as captives, or as cast out 00:15:44.330 --> 00:15:47.750 into outer darkness with weeping and wailing and gnashing of 00:15:47.750 --> 00:15:53.330 teeth as they await resurrection and judgment. There will still 00:15:53.330 --> 00:15:58.400 be there will still be people who will reject the opportunity 00:15:58.400 --> 00:16:02.120 to receive their ordinances. That's their choice. Our 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:05.270 heavenly Father is never going to take away our agency. That's 00:16:05.270 --> 00:16:10.040 part of who we are. So they're just not going to be happy. And 00:16:10.040 --> 00:16:10.670 that's it. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:14.120 That's it. That's all we know about the spirit world. 00:16:15.500 --> 00:16:18.950 President oaks lays it all out. And then he says, that's what we 00:16:18.950 --> 00:16:19.280 know. 00:16:20.150 --> 00:16:22.340 But I'm not quite done yet. Because there's more in this 00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:25.190 talk that I think is critical for us to know and to understand 00:16:25.880 --> 00:16:31.220 about this topic, but it applies on a more broad spectrum. He 00:16:31.220 --> 00:16:36.350 talks about how lots of people have had near death experiences 00:16:36.380 --> 00:16:40.280 or like they died for a few minutes, and they came back. 00:16:40.460 --> 00:16:46.250 They've had inspirations, they've had personal experiences 00:16:46.490 --> 00:16:51.200 with the spirit world. But he also reminds us what it takes 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:56.390 for things like that to become an actual church doctrine. And 00:16:56.390 --> 00:16:59.810 this is where we have to be very, very careful. He quotes 00:16:59.810 --> 00:17:03.050 two other apostles, Elder Christofferson, an elder 00:17:03.050 --> 00:17:06.830 Anderson, and in my my own opinion, I feel like he's 00:17:06.830 --> 00:17:09.800 quoting these other two so that he can be like out of the mouth 00:17:09.800 --> 00:17:13.370 of three witnesses. You have now heard what it takes for 00:17:13.370 --> 00:17:14.990 something to become church doctrine. 00:17:15.410 --> 00:17:20.840 So he he quotes Elder Christofferson as saying, Excuse 00:17:20.840 --> 00:17:28.550 me, it should be remembered. Excuse me, so okay, sorry, Elder 00:17:28.550 --> 00:17:32.090 Christofferson said, quote, it should be remembered that not 00:17:32.090 --> 00:17:36.470 every statement made by a church leader, past or present, 00:17:36.770 --> 00:17:40.280 necessarily constitutes doctrine. It is commonly 00:17:40.280 --> 00:17:44.510 understood in the church that a statement made by one leader on 00:17:44.510 --> 00:17:48.860 a single occasion, often represents a personal, the well 00:17:48.860 --> 00:17:53.150 considered opinion, not meant to be official or binding for the 00:17:53.150 --> 00:17:57.470 whole church. Now think about it for just a second, things that 00:17:57.470 --> 00:18:02.510 apply to us in the United States. Some of the ways some of 00:18:02.510 --> 00:18:08.930 the ways in which we are allowed to worship don't apply 00:18:08.990 --> 00:18:14.510 worldwide. So if somebody's speaking to us here and telling 00:18:14.510 --> 00:18:18.590 us, we need to go next door, and talk to our next door neighbor 00:18:18.590 --> 00:18:22.370 and preach the gospel to them, they can't do that. In countries 00:18:22.370 --> 00:18:26.480 like China. They can't go next door and teach the gospel to 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.320 their neighbor, they have to wait to be approached. least 00:18:30.320 --> 00:18:34.940 that's the way it was the last time I heard. So somebody's 00:18:34.940 --> 00:18:37.340 saying something in a stake conference down here in Southern 00:18:37.340 --> 00:18:41.960 California may not apply to the way that something needs to be 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:50.420 done. Up in Canada, or over in Africa. It doesn't become 00:18:50.450 --> 00:18:52.310 official or binding for the whole church. 00:18:52.340 --> 00:18:56.270 Then he quotes elder Anderson as saying, quote, The doctrine is 00:18:56.270 --> 00:19:00.290 taught by all 15 members of the First Presidency and quorum of 00:19:00.290 --> 00:19:05.510 the 12. It is not hidden in an obscure paragraph of one talk. 00:19:08.570 --> 00:19:11.690 And then he gives the family proclamation as an example. It's 00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:15.410 was signed by all 15 members of the First Presidency and quorum 00:19:15.410 --> 00:19:19.430 of the 12 apostles when it was written, church doctrine. 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:24.680 And then he tells us what we can do when we have questions that 00:19:24.680 --> 00:19:29.390 we can't find actual doctrine about. He states it specifically 00:19:29.420 --> 00:19:32.420 about questions regarding the spirit world. That's what he's 00:19:32.420 --> 00:19:39.140 talking about in this talk. But he, I think it applies. I think 00:19:39.140 --> 00:19:42.830 it applies more generally. He says, quote, for all questions 00:19:42.830 --> 00:19:45.440 about the spirit world, I would suggest two answers. 00:19:46.790 --> 00:19:51.680 Number one, first, remember that God loves His children, and will 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:57.110 surely do what is best for each of us. Second, remember this 00:19:57.110 --> 00:20:00.320 familiar Bible teaching which has been most helpful to On a 00:20:00.320 --> 00:20:04.070 multitude of unanswered questions. Okay, newsflash, 00:20:04.910 --> 00:20:09.500 President Oaks has on unanswered questions. If President Oaks has 00:20:09.530 --> 00:20:14.480 unanswered questions, what does that say about our on our 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:20.900 unanswered questions? I'm just saying, okay, so he quotes 00:20:20.900 --> 00:20:24.440 Proverbs chapter three, trust in the Lord with all thine heart 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:28.670 and lean not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways 00:20:28.670 --> 00:20:32.240 acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. And then just 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:35.480 in case we need a little bit more, he also quotes Nephi. In 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:40.310 second Nephi, Chapter Four Nephi said, Oh, Lord, I have trusted 00:20:40.310 --> 00:20:43.370 in thee, and I will trust in the Forever I will not put my trust 00:20:43.370 --> 00:20:44.570 in the arm of flesh. 00:20:45.860 --> 00:20:50.540 I used to tell my seminary kids and my young women, when you 00:20:50.540 --> 00:20:52.910 have a question that you can't find an answer to write it down. 00:20:53.720 --> 00:20:56.150 One of the jobs of the Holy Ghost is to bring all things to 00:20:56.150 --> 00:21:00.290 our remembrance, right? If we write down a question, I even 00:21:00.290 --> 00:21:04.520 one year even gave my seminary kids little notebooks. Take this 00:21:04.520 --> 00:21:06.920 home, this is your book of questions. When you have a 00:21:06.920 --> 00:21:09.380 question, you can't find an answer to you write it down in 00:21:09.380 --> 00:21:13.220 this book. And you just keep these you keep those questions 00:21:13.220 --> 00:21:16.520 going your whole life, at some point in your life, some of 00:21:16.520 --> 00:21:19.370 these questions you will find answers to, and you can cross 00:21:19.370 --> 00:21:21.560 them out, because now you know the answer to that question. 00:21:22.520 --> 00:21:26.990 Some of them you might not. We may never know more about the 00:21:26.990 --> 00:21:31.580 spirit world until we actually get there. So write your 00:21:31.580 --> 00:21:39.260 questions down. And allow the Holy Ghost time to teach you the 00:21:39.260 --> 00:21:43.130 answers. Allow him the opportunity to help you find 00:21:43.130 --> 00:21:44.870 them in your personal scripture study. 00:21:46.250 --> 00:21:49.430 We have to be very careful about what we teach and what we share 00:21:49.430 --> 00:21:53.180 with others personal revelation does not necessarily apply 00:21:53.180 --> 00:21:57.530 across the board. President oaks also said quote, we can all 00:21:57.530 --> 00:22:00.290 wonder privately about circumstances in the spirit 00:22:00.290 --> 00:22:05.330 world, or even discussed these or other unanswered questions in 00:22:05.330 --> 00:22:09.410 family or other intimate settings. But let us not teach 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:13.760 or use as official doctrine, what does not meet the standards 00:22:13.790 --> 00:22:16.250 of official doctrine, and he just gave us the standards. 00:22:16.250 --> 00:22:21.170 Remember, it has to be taught by all 15 members of the First 00:22:21.170 --> 00:22:25.460 Presidency and quorum of the 12 continuing his quote, to do so 00:22:25.460 --> 00:22:28.640 does not further the work of the Lord and may even discourage 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:32.300 individuals from seeking their own comfort, or edification, 00:22:32.300 --> 00:22:35.030 through the personal revelation. The Lord's plan provides for 00:22:35.030 --> 00:22:38.840 each of us. excessive reliance on personal teachings or 00:22:38.840 --> 00:22:42.650 speculations may even draw us aside from concentrating on 00:22:42.650 --> 00:22:46.040 learning, and efforts that will further our understanding and 00:22:46.040 --> 00:22:47.990 help us go forward on the covenant path. 00:22:48.800 --> 00:22:52.880 So we need to be careful. We need to learn how to recognize 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:56.090 the Holy Ghost when He speaks to us. And then when he does, we 00:22:56.090 --> 00:23:00.830 need to trust in those promptings and also make sure 00:23:00.830 --> 00:23:04.430 that we are still living within church doctrine. I hope that 00:23:04.430 --> 00:23:08.360 makes sense. Because that's a really, that's a really deep 00:23:08.360 --> 00:23:12.920 point. And it's a hang up for a lot of people. We don't know 00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:15.410 everything, we don't have all the answers, we probably aren't 00:23:15.410 --> 00:23:16.790 going to get them in this life. 00:23:17.330 --> 00:23:23.539 We have to put some trust and faith in our Heavenly Father and 00:23:23.639 --> 00:23:29.848 in our Savior, we have to, it's, that's part of the plan. They 00:23:29.948 --> 00:23:36.257 love us. And they will always do what's best for us. We have to 00:23:36.357 --> 00:23:42.466 trust that we may not understand right now today, why they're 00:23:42.566 --> 00:23:48.575 leading us down a certain path. But we can no later, I can't 00:23:48.675 --> 00:23:54.684 remember if I've shared this, I think I shared it. But maybe 00:23:54.784 --> 00:24:01.193 you'll remember a few years ago when elder Holland was speaking. 00:24:01.294 --> 00:24:07.302 And he was he was sharing the story about I think it was him 00:24:07.402 --> 00:24:13.611 and his dad. And they went out on this dirt road. And they got 00:24:13.712 --> 00:24:20.021 they got kind of lost. They knew where they were until the road 00:24:20.121 --> 00:24:26.430 forked. And then they were like, we don't remember which way to 00:24:26.530 --> 00:24:32.339 go. And so they said a prayer and they felt like they were 00:24:32.439 --> 00:24:38.047 supposed to go in this one direction. I'm just gonna say 00:24:38.147 --> 00:24:44.456 off to the left. They felt like they needed to go in this, they 00:24:44.557 --> 00:24:50.665 needed to go on the left fork. So they took the left fork and 00:24:50.766 --> 00:24:57.075 they took it for like an hour. And then it just dead ended. And 00:24:56.430 --> 00:25:00.301 And I'm going to use this one last quote from the very And 00:24:57.175 --> 00:25:03.084 they were like, What the? Why would he tell us to go on the 00:25:00.368 --> 00:25:04.105 it's the second to the last paragraph in President Oakes 00:25:03.184 --> 00:25:09.293 wrong road. So then they have to go back to the fork and then 00:25:04.172 --> 00:25:08.310 talk. He's he tells us what our responsibility is. He says the 00:25:08.377 --> 00:25:12.315 duty of each of us is to teach the doctrine of the restored 00:25:09.393 --> 00:25:14.700 take the other fork and the other fork went for a lot 00:25:12.382 --> 00:25:16.587 gospel. Keep the commandments, love and help one another and do 00:25:14.801 --> 00:25:20.609 longer. And he obviously I'm paraphrasing, but he says How 00:25:16.654 --> 00:25:20.659 the work of salvation in the holy temples. That's it. So now 00:25:20.709 --> 00:25:26.818 have they not taken the wrong one? They would have started to 00:25:20.725 --> 00:25:24.930 you know everything that we know about the spirit world, as has 00:25:24.997 --> 00:25:28.868 been revealed church wide. And what our responsibility is, 00:25:26.918 --> 00:25:32.927 question themselves once they were on the right one. We have 00:25:28.935 --> 00:25:32.606 trust in our Heavenly Father, teach the doctrine of the 00:25:32.673 --> 00:25:36.411 gospel, keep the commandments love one another, love one 00:25:33.027 --> 00:25:39.236 to learn to trust our Heavenly Father and trust our Savior and 00:25:36.478 --> 00:25:40.549 another and help each other and do the work of salvation, the 00:25:39.336 --> 00:25:44.844 follow follow their direction. It's not our job to know 00:25:40.616 --> 00:25:44.621 Holy Temple. And so with that, I'm just gonna say go and do. 00:25:44.687 --> 00:25:48.359 Thank you, everybody for being here. Have a great week. 00:25:44.945 --> 00:25:48.350 everything. It's our job to trust.